VIDEO: Doris & Co will have 'hands full' with Bok loosies
UMHLANGA, DURBAN – Ireland No.8 Caelan Doris is bracing for an intense loose forward battle when he leads his side against South Africa on Saturday at Kings Park Stadium.
Doris takes over the captaincy from Peter O’Mahony, who will be on the bench for the second Test in Durban.
The 26-year-old was one of the stand-outs during last weekend’s 20-27 defeat to the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld and will be eager to produce yet another solid display and help his team draw the series.
However, that is easier said than done as the captain not only has the mammoth task of leading his team, but he also has to deal with the loose forward contest.
The captain admitted that he along with flank duo Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Beirne will have their work cut out for them as they try to contain the loose trio of Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi.
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“I rate them [Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi] very highly,” Doris told reporters in Durban.
“They have a couple of world cups between them.
“Kolisi is a pretty talismanic leader for the [South African] nation. He is obviously a quality flank. Show some of his carrying abilities, especially in the wider channels.
“Kwagga [Smith] is an unbelievably hard runner. He had been class off the bench for the last couple of years. Very impactful player. He poaches, tackles and carries and is very hard to put down.
“Du Toit also can offload and keep the ball alive. But it’s his hits, especially in the [World Cup] Final that I take note of – [they are] top draw.
“So we are going to have our hands full.”
#WATCH Ireland head coach Andy Farrell on his chat with Peter O’Mahony #rugby #news #sports https://t.co/Hhw1iLlo3v
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Doris admitted last week’s review revealed some ugly truths after the Loftus defeat and he believes it has given the team a much-needed edge in the second Test.
“We had a good meeting on Wednesday in particular where we saw some clips that we felt wasn’t us,” he said.
“It wasn’t what we’ve shown over the last number of years in terms of some of the smaller things. Our work rate for each other, standing up for each other a little bit, our response to a couple of positives from them and not responding how we would have in the past.
“It brought up a little bit of hurt and it was frustrating seeing those images back and it makes you want to fly into the match as soon as possible.
“We had a good training session off the back of that and I feel the lads have a bit of an edge off the back of that.
“We also spoke about our calm, doing things our way, which we can’t go away from either. It’s trying to strike that balance between being calm, doing things how we do them, but having a bit of an edge and aggression to us as well.”
The Leinster loose forward is hopeful the side will draw inspiration from their recent results which include a series win in New Zealand in 2022.
Ireland lost the first Test to the All Blacks and bounced back in style to beat New Zealand by 23-12 in Dunedin a week later.
The side went on to win the series 2-1 in New Zealand.
“We’ve touched on some of those, that New Zealand [first Test in 2022] one in particular where we feel we didn’t get things right and bounced back and showed a bit of resilience in the second Test, so we have shown that this week,” said Doris
“There’s a load of belief in how we do things here, the quality of players and the quality of coaches.
“We’ll lean on that belief and we want to finish with a good performance and a good result at the end of a long season.”
